


Standing Side By Side

by ShadesOfImagination



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: AU, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-06
Updated: 2013-05-06
Packaged: 2017-12-10 15:12:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/787447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadesOfImagination/pseuds/ShadesOfImagination
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After years of watching over the planet, Zack is reborn into a world full of things and people he never could have imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Standing Side By Side

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CSKazaam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CSKazaam/gifts).



> Quite simply, I loved this prompt. Here you go, Zack. 
> 
> Request:   
> I would love to see Zack thrown into an Avengers or X-men crossover! A young Zack, or an older Zack, either would be great, and he can be teleported into the other universe, or it can be an entire AU. Does he get picked up for the Avengers/X-men, or does he try to run from them? Could anyone else have an interest in another super soldier like Captain America? What happens if he crosses paths with villains such as Loki or Magneto? Bonus points for featuring Tony Stark/Iron Man, or for throwing any of the other SOLDIERs (Genesis, Angeal, Sephiroth) into the mix! For art: Zack meets Loki, or Zack meets Tony Stark.

When Zack first saw the poster, he'd been walking down the street, eyes wide as he took in the new sights, the new people. His nose had burnt, his eyes had watered and when his hand had shot out, reaching for something to steady himself with, he'd seen it. For a moment, red had swirled over the black letters, the tall building in the center growing and shifting into the familiar shape of a tower he'd spent half his life in.

It'd vanished the second he'd blinked and his stomach had dropped, his hands shaking as his fingers traced the outline of an 'M'.

'Manhattan' they'd called it, the city, he guessed, and they were looking for people to fight. 

For what, he wasn't sure but the sense of familiarity had welled up in his chest and he'd found himself asking for directions to the recruiting office before he'd had a chance to think it through. 

They'd wanted all his information-- things he couldn't provide and identification he didn't actually have. When they pulled him aside, a flash of worry had made the mako flare in his veins and he'd jerked his arm away on instinct. 

From there he'd been asked to sit in a room and he'd done it, if for no other reason than finding a little bit of peace. 

Everything had smelled strange, too sharp and too bitter. There was noise filling every backdrop and his ears were aching for the steady flow of the Lifestream he'd grown used to. 

He hadn't realized he'd been gripping his ears, his body rocking in a steady to a fro motion until a warm hand had settled on his shoulder. 

Hey, you okay?

Three words had snapped him out of his own thoughts, away from the spiral he'd been letting himself fall into and when he'd looked up, for a moment, he'd almost felt like he'd been back home. 

It'd been the blue. He didn't really have any doubt, especially now. Blue eyes were just something he'd always associated with Cloud. They were bright too and his chest had tightened, his throat swelling as his words got caught, jumbling themselves’ up in a way he wasn't used to. 

He'd hated it and that helpless feeling that had come along with it. 

But, as it turned out, just like Cloud, Steve Rogers wasn't all that good with words either and it was that sense of normalcy that had slowly started to settle his nerves. 

Steve was calming, he was kind; he was everything that Zack had dreamed of being as a kid. But, he was also quiet in a way that came from something other than shyness and there was something more in his eyes that Zack couldn't help but notice. 

It was the same look Cloud had worn-- that same tired defeat that got pushed aside whenever someone needed him. Steve stood tall, walked forward without hesitation but Zack always felt like there some something tethering him to the past, keeping his smile from really lighting up. 

Though, he supposed he was one to talk. 

Life had become somewhat normal after that. For a while, he’d clung to Steve but the man seemed to understand. He wasn’t pushed away and he doubted he’d ever be able to express just how grateful he was for that acceptance. 

This world, this life… they were different, alien even, and for what felt like years, he floundered. He’d had nothing to call his own and he’d never forget the day Steve had gripped the back of his shirt and hauled him off the couch like he was nothing more than a sack of potatoes. 

They’d gone shopping. 

Admittedly, he hadn’t been expecting that but, when he’d taken off that old uniform, he’d understood what Steve had been getting at without actually saying it. 

It was time to take a step forward.

It’d been two weeks later when a stack of papers had been tossed down in front of him, the top cover stamped with a large ‘A’.

\--the Avengers initiative.

He’d heard Steve talk about it once or twice, heard about Iron Man, or Tony Stark, on the news. He just… hadn’t been expecting them to want to meet with him, of all people. He was a stranger, the guy that slept on Steve’s couch. He didn’t even really exist here as far as the government was concerned. 

The tiny smile that had been tossed his way had reassured him though and as he’d been led out of the apartment he’d felt a little spark of something he’d all but forgotten: excitement. He knew where the recommendation had come from even if he’d never have guessed it would have happened and he almost couldn’t bite back to flood of gratitude threatening to come bubbling out of him mouth. 

He might have found a purpose and, once again, Steve was to thank.

The meeting had been pretty straightforward, thankfully. It didn’t really sound all that different from his first briefing in SOLDIER, to be honest, same shit, different day. But, when he’d thought he was in the clear, that this could work, a roadblock had been dropped in his lap. 

They’d required a level of testing that made his fists clench and his legs shake. Memories he’d done a bang-up job at locking in the back of his mind rushed forward and without a second thought he’d refused. 

He wouldn’t go back there. He wouldn’t be a lab rat. He wouldn’t get stuck in that trap or that place or that time ever again.

There wouldn't be any more white walls or faces hovering over him. There wouldn’t be any needles or that sickening feeling like he was drowning. There wouldn’t. That part of his life was done. It was over. It was gone and nothing could pull him back, even a purpose he’d thought he’d lost.

It was then he’d been introduced to someone else, another man that had seemingly had his fair share of doctors, despite being one himself. 

Bruce Banner was kind of short and had a smile that looked more than a little forced but, from the get-go, Zack had been lost. 

The man was as brilliant as he was kind and, though he seemed a little rough around the edges, it wasn’t hard to see that the words were for a positive outcome. 

He was a weird mix of up and down that Zack just couldn’t figure out. 

It took all of one conversation and long, rather boring, explanation of the lab before Zack was ready to pass out and, looking back on it, he was hard pressed to deny the fact that it was probably all part of the plan. 

A tiny sting in his finger had been the only thing to jolt him out of his hazy state and, in the end, that was all the blood that had even been needed for that stupid physical they’d wanted from him. 

Easy—Banner had made it easy. 

The whole deal from there had gone pretty smooth and, though he was still sitting around, twiddling his thumbs, while waiting for them to give him the all clear or a negative… he was happy. 

For the first time in a while, he actually felt like he belonged somewhere. 

Yeah, he missed everyone. 

He missed Aerith and the softness of her voice and being able to just watch with her from the Lifestream. He missed Cloud and Kunsel, the best pals anyone could ever ask for but he’d made friends here; people that had taken him in when he’d been a bum on the street and explained exactly what Earth was all about. 

They hadn’t buttered anything up and, when he finally met Tony, it was almost like he’d met everything Steve had tried to explain but wrapped up in a human. 

Friendship hadn’t been immediate. There was something in the way Tony spoke that reminded him of a redhead with an attitude problem, only he smiled more. And, Zack would be the first to admit that it was the smile that really cleared up any misgivings he’d had, even if he did feel kind of dumb sometimes. Science, computers, even televisions had never really been his thing.

Still, being able to get a little friendly sparring in with someone? Hell, yeah. He was not about to pass that up. 

He had a family again—as dysfunctional as it was, it worked and he didn’t plan on giving it up any time soon. 

He’d never forget what he’d had back in Midgar. 

He’d never stop seeing Cloud in the way Steve held his shoulders or the way he sometimes just stared off into space. He’d never associate the way Bruce was kind and careful with anyone bit Angeal and, on the rare occasion he caught Miss Potts, he’d never be able to wipe the soft smile off his face. 

She was strong, she was brave and she held Tony together like a neatly packaged piece of glue. 

She was Tony’s Aerith, just like the woman in Steve’s wallet was his. 

This was his place now, but he’d never forget where he’d come from. Home would always be somewhere in his heart, the good and the bad.


End file.
